


Mistake on the Part of Nature

by idiopathicsmile



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-19
Updated: 2014-04-19
Packaged: 2018-01-19 23:30:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1488142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idiopathicsmile/pseuds/idiopathicsmile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve takes in Bucky's betrayed look and Sam's confusion, follows Sam's gaze to the pile of mangled fruit in the trash can. Sudden comprehension fills his face.</p><p>"Oh," he says. "Bucky found out about bananas."</p><p> </p><p>In which an American icon is mourned. But probably not the one you're thinking of.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mistake on the Part of Nature

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Deutsch available: [Irrtum auf Seiten der Natur](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1942347) by [dornfelder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dornfelder/pseuds/dornfelder)
  * Translation into Русский available: [Ошибка природы](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1966209) by [agewa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/agewa/pseuds/agewa)
  * Translation into Italiano available: [Mistake on the Part of Nature di idiopathicsmile](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7592038) by [Code-Name_Black_Widow (LadyYunaRose)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyYunaRose/pseuds/Code-Name_Black_Widow)



> So [gyzym](gyzym.tumblr.com) [expressed a need](http://gyzym.tumblr.com/post/83124313687/six-fanfictions-i-am-currently-craving-the#notes) to see Steve and Bucky come to terms with an America that has [replaced its Gros Michel bananas with Cavendishes.](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/opinion/18koeppel.html?_r=1&) Hopefully I am not the only person who answered the call, and the Captain America fandom can wind up with this distinct little subgenre of banana stories.
> 
> Title from ["Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2nVM53aGFw) by The New Pornographers.

Bucky's memories may be returning, but Sam is pretty much resigned that "basic social niceties" are going to be the last thing to come back, if ever. Which is why he's not completely surprised when he walks into the kitchen and Bucky responds to his cheerful "Morning, sunshine!" with,

"What the hell is wrong with your bananas?"

To be clear, Sam is still, you know, a little surprised. But after five weeks of this kind of thing, he has the presence of mind to do a quick search of the kitchen before he answers.

"Well, for starters, looks like some maniac has taken one bite out of every single one of them and thrown them all in the garbage."

"What's—" Steve stumbles into the room, rubbing at his eyes. His hair looks ridiculous. The serum might have made him immune to the common cold or runner's knee, but it can't protect him from bedhead. There's something comforting about that. Steve takes in Bucky's betrayed look and Sam's confusion, follows Sam's gaze to the pile of mangled fruit in the trash can. Sudden comprehension fills his face. "Oh," he says. "Bucky found out about bananas."

"What," says Sam.

Steve just shakes his head and joins Bucky at the table. He leans in, conspiratorial. "It's the weirdest thing, Buck," he's saying. "They're all like that, doesn't matter where you buy 'em. Everyone in the future just acts like this is how bananas are supposed to taste." Bucky makes a disgusted face. "I know," says Steve, and somehow his expression contains outrage, empathy, and a kind of loopy relief. _"I know._ You're the first person who—" He sighs. "Thought I was going crazy–"

"Well, you ain't," says Bucky. "They're…pulpy. Mealy."

"And bland," Steve agrees. 

"They taste like _shit—_ "

They're both smiling now, heads ducked together, the only two members of some exclusive little club. Super-Soldiers Against Modern Bananas.

"Uh," says Sam, and they both turn to look at him, as if suddenly remembering he's in the room, "are you sure this isn't, like, a nostalgia thing? Some kind of a 'back in my day—'"

Bucky shoots him a glare that feels really, really disproportionate to the situation.

"It's okay," says Steve, "he doesn't get it. Nobody gets it." The 'nobody but you' is clear in the fond curve of his smile, in the sudden ease of his shoulders, and yep, Steve and Bucky are officially having a moment about bananas. It's okay, they've had moments about weirder things before. They're not actually together, Sam's pretty sure, mostly they just watch each other a lot, secret longing looks, or at times like these, eye contact that is way too significant for seven in the morning. Sam doesn't ask. They've got time to work it out on their own.

Instead, he grabs his phone and does some quick googling: _bananas different past present_. He scrolls down a little, clicks a likely-looking article, reads. "Oh," he says. "Guys. Here you go. The bananas you grew up with were a species called Gros Michel, but in the fifties a banana plague wiped them out—because apparently there are banana plagues—and now we eat a different kind."

"They couldn't call 'em something else?" Bucky protests.

"Like 'lie-fruit'," says Steve.

"Imposter-berries—"

Bananas are not, nor have they ever been berries, but it seems best to let that slide. Sam skims ahead a little. "Yeah, apparently you can still find Gros Michels in Thailand, but they're not for sale in America—"

"Wait!" says Bucky, wide-eyed with some realization. For a moment, he sounds very earnest, almost young. "What about banana candy?" They both blink at him. "Well," he says, "it's not like the plague knocked out banana flavoring—" 

"Man, don't get your hopes up, banana-flavored anything is nasty," Sam tells him absently, scrolling down. "It's way too sweet and it never tastes anything like bana—" He pauses mid-syllable. "Huh."

Steve and Bucky exchange a look. There's a beat. "That gas station down the street sells candy, right?" says Steve.

"Uh, yeah, think so," says Sam. The gas station _is_ down the street, in that it's five miles down the street, but Steve is already out the door. Super-speed and all that.

Sam glances towards the trash bin. "'Course, I'm not sure what I'm going to eat for breakfast now," he says.

He's mostly talking to himself, but after a moment, Bucky says, "You really like the new kind?" Sam can't tell if there's accusation in Bucky's tone or not, but he nods. "It's okay," says Bucky, "you don't know any better." This is the nicest thing Bucky has said to him since moving in a month and a half ago. "Sorry I ruined all your stupid shitty bananas," he adds, which is now the second-nicest. "Thanks for lookin' into it, I guess." 

"Hey, what are friends for," says Sam, opening the fridge. Bucky says nothing, which is not unusual. "Or friends of friends, it's cool."  Sam knows Bucky's going through a lot, and doesn't want him to feel pressured to be buddy-buddy just because Bucky and Steve are crashing at Sam's place for a while. It's a weird situation. Sam respects that. "Want some strawberries?" he asks. 

"It's just—you make him sleep on the _couch_ ," says Bucky.

Sam shuts the fridge door and turns around. "What?" Steve does sleep on Sam's sofa; the night they found Bucky, Steve surrendered the guest bedroom without a second thought. But saying Sam forced the decision is sort of insane.

"Every night," says Bucky. "You guys fighting or something?" His lip curls, bitter. "Domestic quarrel?"

"No," says Sam slowly. "Uh, you do know that he and I are not romantically involved? Like, at all?" 

The way Bucky just sort of looks at him answers that question. "Men can be with men now," he says, a challenging tilt to his jaw.

"If they want to be, yeah—"

"He _lives with you_ ," says Bucky.

"I mean, so do you," Sam points out. He rinses off the strawberries and sets the carton on the table. "Seriously man, you just assumed? You never thought to talk about it with him?"

Bucky frowns. Not the 'brainwashed living weapon' frown Sam remembers chilling his blood from across a pile of burning rubble. It's a distinctly different frown. "Lots of things me and Steve don't talk about," he says quietly.

"Maybe you should," Sam suggests. He nudges the strawberries towards him. "Take one, they're good." Bucky eyes them dubiously, as if expecting another bait-and-switch. "Got 'em at that fancy farmer's market at Dupont Circle. They were grown by the Amish, is that old school enough for you?"

Bucky picks up a strawberry and takes a cautious bite. After a second, he nods. "Okay," he says, mouth full, "you're one for one, Wilson."

"Also," says Sam, "y'know, for what it's worth. Steve never dropped everything he was doing to buy _me_ gas station candy like I was someone's pregnant wife with a craving—"

"Shut up," says Bucky, grabbing another strawberry, "you like _dumb bananas_." But something in his brief flickering smile gives Sam a sudden urge to ruffle his hair. He doesn't, if only because Bucky could crush Sam's skull with one hand. 

"Quit eating all my fruit, freeloader," says Sam instead.

"Then don't put it where I can reach, dumbass," says Bucky. So Sam pulls up a chair and they sit around eating way too many strawberries, waiting for a back-from-the-dead American hero to bring them candy flavored like a fruit that is itself nearly dead. It's not how Sam thought he'd be spending his morning, but yeah, he'll roll with it.

**Author's Note:**

> ETA: If I have learned one thing from writing this fic, it's that Marvel fandom is super super nice. Whoa, you guys! 
> 
> If I've learned two things from writing this fic, it's that Marvel fandom is super super nice AND ALSO scientifically speaking, bananas are berries! They are _definitely_ berries. I'm keeping it in because it seems like something a character without any special background in botany could conceivably not know, but just so we're clear. Berries.
> 
> ETA2: Oh, also I'm on [tumblr](http://idiopathicsmile.tumblr.com)! Got feelings about superheroes and/or tropical fruits? Let's talk it out!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Mistake on the Part of Nature](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2330156) by [avcay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/avcay/pseuds/avcay), [sallysparrow017](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sallysparrow017/pseuds/sallysparrow017)
  * [[podfic] Mistake on the Part of Nature](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2335769) by [majoline](https://archiveofourown.org/users/majoline/pseuds/majoline)
  * [Cover for "Mistake on the Part of Nature by idiopathicsmile](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3169910) by [RunawayMarbles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RunawayMarbles/pseuds/RunawayMarbles)




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